Humans Are...

Amazingly

Incredible 

Artfully

Innovative

Astoundingly

Insightful

Awfully

Intricate

Ambitiously

Inventive

Absolutely

Ingenious

Actually

Intelligent

Joshua Seigal 

National Poetry Day - Embedding Poetry Across the Curriculum

 This Thursday is National Poetry Day, and this year's theme is Wonder.

I am proud to be an Official Ambassador for National Poetry Day and the Forward Prizes by Forward Arts Foundation, and here's what I've come to believe: poetry shouldn't live only in English lessons. It works best when it runs through the curriculum. Wonder isn't confined to one subject, and poems aren't either.

So, here are some ideas for how poetry might be embedded right across the curriculum:

Science: A poem asks children to look closely, and so does a scientist. Try a "list poem" of everything that happens when ice melts or a volcano erupts, or write from the point of view of a seed underground. Precise observation makes precise language, and the reverse is also true.

Maths: Pattern, rhythm and structure are both mathematical and poetic ideas. Count syllables, build shape poems, write riddles where the answer is a number. Children who "don't like maths" will often happily work out whether a line has too many beats.

Geography: Write a poem as a river travelling from source to sea, or as a city waking up. Poetry helps children understand a place from the inside, not just from a map or an atlas.

History: Give a voice to someone the textbook leaves out. A short monologue poem from a Victorian chimney sweep, a WW1 soldier or a Roman peasant builds empathy and understanding at once.

Art & Music: Poems and images belong together. Illustrate a poem, or write one in response to a painting. Perform poems with percussion and let children feel the rhythm physically.

PSHE: Poetry gives children words for feelings they can't easily name. A funny poem can open up a serious conversation. Laughter is a very good way in.

PE: Chant it, stamp it, move to it. Performance poetry is physical, and it's a gift for children who find it hard to sit still.

The common thread? Poetry teaches children to notice, to question, to play with language and to be amazed. In other words, it opens the path to 'Wonder'!

So this National Poetry Day, I'd challenge every teacher (not just the English or Literacy lead!) to bring a poem into a lesson where nobody expects it. Then see what happens.

How is your school celebrating? I'd love to hear.

Our Teacher

Our teacher is now a computer. 

The lesson goes straight to our brain,

transmitted from wire to neuron

like links in a silicon chain.

Our teacher is now an automaton. 

The homework is marked by AI.

In fact we use AI to do it – 

we’ve kissed human essence goodbye.

Our teacher is now in a tablet.

The tablet is now our new god.

They tell us that this is quite normal. 

We know in our bones that it’s odd.

Our teacher is now an illusion. 

We thought that we’d be overjoyed,

but somehow we find that we miss him – 

our teacher is now unemployed.

Joshua Seigal

Dreams (Can Be Like That)

Last night I had a dream

about the school caretaker.
I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to him,

and I don’t even know his name.

But he was in my dream. 

He was telling me

that he preferred coffee over tea. 

Dreams can be like that – 

completely random, 

absolutely weird, 

involving people and things

we rarely ever consider. 

Which got me thinking:

how many dreams have I been in?

Who out there is dreaming of me?

Who has ever had a dream

In which I feature?

And you too – 

who out there

has ever dreamt of you?

Definitely someone. 

Probably lots of people. 

Certainly people you wouldn’t expect.

Maybe even the school caretaker.

You see,

dreams can be like that. 

Totally unpredictable. 

Utter bizarre.

And sometimes involving armadillos.

Joshua Seigal 

Otter

My mum wants to know why I’ve never 

written a poem about her. She seems

upset. Is it because all I’ve handed down

to you is anxiety? she asks. No,

I reply, you were a wonderful mum. I think

back to the time in the old house when we

were little, when she set up a little table

in the garden, and she covered the table with

newspaper, and gave us paint and paper

to play with. She didn’t have to do this.

I’m painting an otter, I said, even though

the splodge on the page was nothing

resembling an otter. It’s the best otter

I’ve ever seen, my mum replied. And she put it

on the fridge, and it stayed there for years,

and she passed on so much more to me

than just anxiety – a mess can be

an otter; a wounded leopard, love.

Joshua Seigal

(published in The Relationship Expert)

New Puppy

She snuggles with my sister

and she snuggles with my mum.

She scampers to my cousin

and she lets him rub her tum. 

She snuggles with my brother

while he watches the TV – 

but she never snuggles with me. 

She snuggles with my classmates

when they come around to play.

She snuggles in the evening

and she snuggles in the day. 

She snuggles with my father

while she wags her tail with glee – 

but she never snuggles with me. 

She snuggles all and sundry

yet for reasons I don’t know,

she will not let me pet her

so I’m sat here like a schmo. 

No nuzzles, it’s a puzzle

why my love she cannot see.

She never snuggles with me.

Joshua Seigal 

The Divorce

Throughout it all, I kept wondering how

she did it. The recalcitrant husband,

the avaricious lawyers – how did she

hold it all together? The full-time job,

the two kids to bring up – how did she

keep the plates spinning? I always imagined

the kids would be the worst of it; the need

to buttress two more lives against the weight

of all hers faced – a back breaking

harsh necessity. That was until I saw her

with them both in the restaurant, the ease

and art with which the light was flowing.

The kids are not the things that break

our backs – they are the only things,

throughout it all, that keep us going. 

Joshua Seigal 

published in The Relationship Expert

Mum's Wedding Dress

She keeps it on top of the wardrobe,

but sometimes she gathers it down.

She says we can play so we caper all day

as we totter about in her gown.

And sometimes I let my mind wander – 

the past and the future float free. 

I think of my mum all those years ago,

and wonder what life holds for me.

Joshua Seigal

THE RELATIONSHIP EXPERT - Joshua Seigal Releases Debut Pamphlet of Poetry for Adults. And it's free

Since the end of 2025, I have been working, near enough solidly, on a pamphlet of poetry for adults. I am best known as a children's poet, but this has been the direction in which my creative energies have been taking me. A handful of the poems in the collection have found their way into 'heavyweight' publications - a big shout out especially to Poetry Wales - but I was left with the question of what to do with the collection as a whole. I started off thinking I would submit it to some big publishers. I tried my luck with Faber (no word from them), and there are any number of smaller presses I could and perhaps should have considered. 

In the end, I decided the self-publish it. Not in print, but as a freely downloadable digital document, under a Creative Commons license, meaning anyone is free to download it onto their devices, in order to keep and share it with others. I don't know if this decision is very brave, or very stupid. Maybe both. Maybe I should have waited until some editor with a PhD decided in his bounteous munificence to publish what I have to offer. But I'm not really part of that world. More to the point, I have deeply personal reasons for doing it this way. My way. I could expound at length on these reasons, but for now I will say only this: life is short. Traditional publishing is a cumbersome process and we never know how long we have. The world is a precarious place. The future is not secure. I want my little document out there, in the world, for everyone. I want it to bring a tiny little bit of joy to a small fraction of people. I think it is the best body of work I have ever produced. 

Here it is, available to download for free, on this link: https://archive.org/details/the-relationship-expert-by-joshua-seigal

Here is a sample poem, below. It's one of the poems from the book I'm most proud of: 

Grandpa David 

He agrees to meet on Hampstead Heath – 

a rainy Tuesday, the branches bare. 

He unfurls his umbrella for us to share. 

I become aware of the hip flask in his pocket, 

the packet of fags lying close to his breast.

As we synchronise steps, he tells me 

it wasn’t easy. None of it was easy – 

letting his fiancée’s family believe he had

a degree; getting up every morning

and donning a suit, to pretend to my grandma

that he had a job. It wasn’t easy walking

the streets every day until the sun

went down, then returning to a woman

who he knew didn’t love him anyway.

Can you understand why I drink now?

Can you understand why I smoke?

Look, I’m sorry, he says – I’m touched that

your middle name is David. And I’m sorry

I died before you were born. Shaking

rain from brolly, taking fag from mouth,

we part ways by the gates at Kenwood House, 

and glancing back – I couldn’t swear

but I think – he reaches for the hip flask

to have just the one more drink.

Joshua Seigal

Sending big love to all!

A Word About the Bird

I reckon I’m a sea bird. 

My mind just works that way. 

I may have just convinced myself – 

I’m gullible, some say. 

Joshua Seigal

My Uncle's a Punk Rocker

My uncle’s a punk rocker. 

He thrashes his guitar.

He shouts into the microphone. 

We think he is a star. 

He has a cool mohican

and an armful of tattoos.

He wears a leather jacket.

He don’t care about taboos. 

My uncle’s got a gang of mates.

Some people find him frightful. 

To us he is an idol.

We consider him delightful.

He may not have a ‘normal’ job

like doctor or attorney.

To others he’s a reprobate. 

To us, he’s Uncle Ernie.

Joshua Seigal 

I Asked AI to Write a Poem

and do you know what?

I was actually pretty good. 

The vocabulary was nice and rich

and it scanned well too. 

It was funny, and interesting

and it made me want to read further. 

It contained a good mix

of similes, metaphors

and others kinds of figurative language. 

It was fluent and slick

and I was sure

that if I put it in a book

the readers would enjoy it.

It was, in other words,

a highly serviceable poem.

Then I deleted it

and wrote this. 

Joshua Seigal

Milk on the Window Sill

For our science project

we put a cup of milk

on the window sill.

Then we left it for a week.

We wanted to see

what would happen.

Part of me hoped something

miraculous would occur – 

rainbows sprouting through

the roof, or satyrs singing 

in majestic chorus, perhaps..

But deep down I knew

that it would turn yellow,

then go putrid, and stink,

until Miss Cartwright made us

throw it all away.

Joshua Seigal

From My Mind to Yours

These words are a gift

from my mind to yours. 

It’s not perfect, of course – 

my mind is a human mind

and these words might not

be exactly what your need

right now. But here they are. 

Human to Human. Mind 

to Mind. Take this gift, 

and know that all your devices 

might be faster, smarter, 

more slick and to the point,

But they can’t gift you this love,

from my mind to yours.

Joshua Seigal